For Friday, a ton of fun movie news

There's indeed a whole lot of fun stuff out there today, but the best and oddest of all just might be that there's a horror remake opening this weekend that I'm gonna take a chance on seeing.

"The Crazies" is at least slightly intriguing because it was shot about 20 minutes from my house, but that's really not enough to snag me. Two good reviews from sources I trust, however - Collider and HitFix - are, so I'll be there Saturday afternoon, 'cause I just love smart horror.

OK, in news that might just impact somebody besides me, easily the best of all is that Angelina Jolie has bailed on a "Wanted 2" (did the world really need that?) and instead signed on for something much, much better - an Alfonso Cuaron sci-fi movie (huzzah!)

"Gravity" will be about a woman (Jolie, natch) who is the sole survivor of a space mission, desperately trying to get home to Earth and her daughter. Sounds a bit like Duncan Jones' "Moon" (for which Sam Rockwell certainly should have gotten an Oscar nomination), but anyone who's seen Cuaron's "Children of Men" knows he can work wonders with good sci-fi, so definitely keep your eyes on this on.

Before that, however, I seem to remember reading something about Cuaron making an odd road movie of sorts starring Daniel Auteil and Charlotte Gainsbourg (a definite crush around here.) Indeed, IMDB lists him also working on that flick, "A Boy and His Shoe," but with only a vague 2012 release date so far.

Will there really be a funny Farrelly brothers movie?

I certainly have my doubts about that, but there's no question that they've somehow assembled a first-rate cast for "Hall Pass," which is shooting this week in Atlanta, if I'm not mistaken.

Starting with a base of Owen Wilson and someone named Jason Sudeikis, they've this week or so added HBO vets Stephen Merchant and J.B. Smoove, and even more recently Alyssa Milano and Christina Applegate. The latter two certainly need no introduction, but comedy fans will know Merchant as Ricky Gervais' comedic partner in crime, and Smoove played Larry David's brother-in-law, Leon Black, on "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

But what in the world is this all about? Well, Wilson and Sudeikis play two lucky dudes whose wives (Milano and Applegate, perhaps) give them passes to engage in extramarital shenanigans. Merchant and Smoove will play two of their buddies.

Not the most promising of premises, but with that cast I'm relatively optimistic about a winner here.

Farina joins Mann pilot at HBO

Although I'm most excited about the return of "The Wire" creator David Simon (with the N'Awlins series "Treme," coming in April, when I'll return to HBO too), what Michael Mann and David Milch ("Deadwood") have cooking up for the station sounds like an awful lot of fun too.

Dennis Farina has now signed on to star in "Luck," which Mann is directing at least the pilot of from a script by Milch. The show centers on a man who, after just getting released from prison, teams with his longtime chauffeur and muscle (Farina) to craft a complex plan with a crooked jockey (John Ortiz) to fix races at a racetrack.

I love the ponies, and Mann has a real talent for developing a seamy sense of place, so I'll definitely be tuning in for whatever comes of all of this.

Demme to head back to Haiti

Though Jonathan Demme makes usually-great movies of all kinds, I think his documentaries are the best of all. And since the single best of those is "The Agronomist," about slain Haitian activist Jean Dominique, it only makes sense that he would turn his thoughts and camera to the country at this troubled time.

Actually, his route back to the country this time intersects with one of his other documentary passions, music. Demme had been planning a documentary about Arcade Fire (new album coming very soon, huzzah!), whose founding member Regine Chassagne is Haitian. He and the band were set to head to Haiti to shoot something music-driven the very morning the quake struck, which of course changed his plans entirely. Here's what Demme had to say about his new course of action.

"My personal feeling was, those who go down two months or three months from now, with a specific mission in mind, will be valuable in their own way, as the people that are going now. So I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go within the next six months, but I haven't been yet."

He's certainly right, there. Though the people of Haiti needs just about everything, what they'll need months from now is continued attention from the rest of the world, so here's hoping Demme follows through on this and even makes a movie about it too.

And a bit closer to home, Demme is apparently now working on the documentary "Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower Ninth Ward," about the most devastated neighborhood in New Orleans after Katrina.

Broken Lizard signs Universal deal

Though the juvenile antics of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe certainly aren't for everyone (Nell Minow knocked me, perhaps correctly, for including "Super Troopers" in my list of the 100 best movies of the '00s), they just make me laugh almost every time they put something out.

Their latest flick, "Slammin' Salmon," didn't manage to play anywhere near me, so I'll have to just watch it on DVD, but now comes word that the guys have signed on for two movies that will hopefully play a lot wider with the help of Universal.

The studio has picked up "Rogue Scholars," a college comedy revolving around five unruly professors played by the members of the troupe, plus an additional as-yet-untitled Broken Lizard flick to follow. Like I said, I'm a devoted fan of "Super Troopers" - for which they are still promising a sequel someday - so I'll follow these guys just about anywhere.

A new flick for Ed Helms

Though he's surrounded by plenty of very funny people. Ed Helms has slowly and steadily developed into the best character on "The Office" with the Nard Dog, so any word of him appearing on the big screen is welcome in this little corner of the world.

He'll next be seen hopefully everywhere as an insurance salesman in Miguel Arteta's "Cedar Rapids," due out this year. And now comes word that he's signed on to star in something called "Central Intelligence" for director Dean Parisot (who, yes, really did direct "Galaxy Quest" back in the day.)

The flick is about an accountant (Helms) who reconnects with an old friend via Facebook and finds himself sucked into a world of espionage (I always knew that Facebook was nothing but evil, but yes, I'm on it.)

That sounds like nothing but funny to me, so definitely stay tuned to this one.

And finally, what in the world is "Harold and the Purple Crayon"?

Though I had never heard of it until about a year or so ago, it's apparently a fairly classic children's tale by Crockett Johnson, and has already been made into a movie and short TV series.

The first I had heard of it, however, was in a New York Times magazine profile of Spike Jonze in which he revealed he was at work on another movie version of this when he thankfully got sidetracked by "Where the Wild Things Are" (I still say the single biggest Oscar snub this year is that even in the field of 10, that didn't get a Best Picture nomination. Criminal.)

Now comes word that the book is coming to movie life again, this time with the help of "Where the Wild Things Are" author and national treasure Maurice Sendak as a producer.

The story apparently follow our hero Harold as he uses his magic purple crayon to retreat into his own fantasy world, but soon realizes that he’s been selfish with his crayon and so uses it to help his parents and others, and even go on a mission to Mars.

This will be a CG-animated affair, with no director attached yet, but why not Mr. Jonze himself? Sounds like it would be world of fun for him, and I know for sure he'd love to work with Maurice Sendak again.

OK, this has certainly gone on long enough today, so I'll just wrap it up with a couple of clips. The first is for a flick called "The Good Heart," set to come out in at least some urban portions of the world on April 30. It caught my eye because it stars Reel Fanatic favorites Brian Cox and Paul Dano. The flick tells the story of Lucas (Dano), who attempts suicide and meets bar-owner Jacques (Cox) while in the hospital. The two quickly form a friendship and Lucas starts to work in Jacques' bar. Enjoy the trailer.

The Good Heart trailer from zik zak on Vimeo.

Actually, make that only one clip, because although there's a new international trailer out there for the "Karate Kid" remake starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith's offspring, I've decided to just ignore that monstrosity from here on out. Peace out.

Who are these "Crazies," and what the heck are they doing in Peach County?

Actually, the biggest movie news today that might concern anyone who doesn't live within 30 miles of me concerns two biopics in the works which could both turn out to be pretty friggin' cool.

First off, Jim Sheridan, who last made the rather instantly forgettable 50 Cent bio pic of sorts, "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " (man, do I hope "Notorious" - which is indeed playing here this weekend - is better than that!), is now returning to the Irish turf that he knows so well. Well, Irish-American anyway.

Sheridan will be directing and co-wrote the script for a pic about Boston mobster and FBI informant Whitey Bulger, based on the book "Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob" by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill (which just went on my reading list.)

I love mob movies as much as the next guy, especially ones based on real mobsters, so this should just be a lot of fun (and I'm sure Ben Affleck would give his left nut to play this, but I really just can't see it.)

Even better in my book, Focus Features has acquired the rights to "Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon." Now, I do agree there are too many music biopics out there, but cats just don't get much more interesting than Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

I recently bought a compilation of two Fela albums on the ITunes, "Open & Close" with "Aphrodisiac," and I can confirm they are just stunningly entertaining. Along with the music, though, Fela was also a political animal, often imprisoned in his native Nigeria before he died in 1997. Although I recommend these two guys for just about everything, I'd love to see Derek Luke (P.Diddy, or whatever his name is, in this week's "Notorious") or the "The Wire" vet who will be making a six-episode run soon on "The Office" (more on that in just a bit) in this meaty role.

Right here in Middle Georgia, and soon, there's something much more and appropriately crazy going on. I've so far managed to steer clear of almost all horror remakes, but I just might have to make an exception for this one.

As reporter Jake Jacobs reported in Wednesday's Sun News (which I lay out), there's a remake of George Romero's "The Crazies" in the works, and amazingly enough it's about to start filming in Peach County. Specifically, the filmmakers will invade Peach County High School and other parts of the county for filming from April 1-20.

So, what in the world is "The Crazies"? I haven't seen it, but as best as I can tell it's about what happens when a toxin is released into a town's water supply that, of course, causes ordinary people to go insane. Sounds good to me as long as it's a lot of fun, and now we know who will be here when it's filming.

Timothy Oliphant (Sheriff Seth Bullock on "Deadwood" who has managed to star in a string of just awful flicks since) and Radha Mitchell (who I last saw in the mildly engaging "miracle" movie "Henry Poole is Here") will be the stars, and if you want to see them, just stop by the school in that window and you might get lucky. And on one day, you'll probably see me too.

TV odds and ends

For most "Friday Night Lights" fans (meaning almost anyone who doesn't have DirecTV), it's been a long, long wait for the new season to hit NBC, but it finally does tomorrow night at 8.

Luckily, and thanks to the largess of always-welcome reader Jeremy, I've seen most of the episodes already, but I'll watch them all again on my bigger screen because they're just as good as ever.

Coincidentally, what will most likely be the last "FNL" episode ever hits DirecTV on the same night that the new season starts on NBC. I won't spoil anything for those of who will be tuning in tomorrow night (except for the teaser that, yes, Tim and Lyla are thankfully an odd couple again), but I can say they're clearly wrapping all the loose ends and doing so with a welcome dose of wicked humor.

And of course, for those of you who - like me - are old enough that you often stay home on Friday nights or else have a DVR, don't forget that the final episode run of "Battlestar Galactica" begins Friday night at 10 on Sci Fi. Bring it on!

Finally, there's some cool casting news for "The Office," and its non-Office spinoff from the series creators, which will premier right after the Super Bowl.

The name Idris Elba (teased so shamelessly just a few paragraphs ago to get perhaps a few people to read to the end of this) will be very familiar to fans of "The Wire" for his turn as Stringer Bell, but you should also check him out in "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" - the last movie from the late Anthony Minghella - once it hits DVD.

Now, in what should be a very funny run, he'll soon be appearing on six episodes of "The Office" as a new corporate suit who - among other duties - will finally try to whip poor Michael Scott into shape. Very cool.

For the new show from "Office" producers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, "Saturday Night Live" vet Amy Poehler will star and be surrounded by former "Office" employee Rashida Jones, funny man Aziz Ansari and - most recently - Aubrey Plaza (who can apparently be seen in Judd Apatow's next flick, "Funny People.")

So, what's it about? Well, I don't know much, but this one sentence is enough to get me to watch at least a few episodes:

[The sitcom] is set in the office of Amy (Poehler), deputy chairman of the department of parks and recreations in Pawnee, Ind.

Vice chairman? Sounds just right to me, and I'll finally wrap this up with a coming three-episode turn on a show I just recently managed to get on board with, "Chuck," from a dude I can really only stand in small doses.

Goofy man Chevy Chase will play a technology mogul on three upcoming episodes of the show, which returns with new stuff Feb. 2. Unfortunately, it will be in 3-D, so I hope I will be able to stubbornly watch and enjoy it with only the glasses I need to make it through each day.

And, really finally since this has clearly gone on long enough, I'll leave you with this video preview of tonight's "The Office" episode, titled "The Duel." As any "Office" fan knows, that means Dwight and Andy, so definitely tune in, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday.